Tarot & Cartomancy: Purification rituals to cleanse your cards

This post also applies to any other form of card divination (Such as Lenormand or Oracle cards).

Over time your cards absorb energy, and not all of it is good. And sometimes your deck simply absorbs too much different energy, making your deck unclear and unfocused. Maybe a lot of people have handled your cards, maybe you used your card in a difficult emotional period or maybe something feels a little off with your cards? When this happens, your cards can use a good energy cleanse. This post will talk about what you need to know about cleansing and clearing your cards.

Do you need to cleanse and clear your cards?

Depends on how you believe Tarot cards work. Some people believe that Tarot is purely a practice of the mind and that there is nothing spiritual about it. If you believe that then cleansing your cards will hold no meaning to you. You should do what feels right for you.
I personally believe energy is an essential part of what makes Tarot and cartomancy work. And following that logic, the energy needs to be clean and neutral to make the readings as best as possible. Muddled energy will lead to muddled readings.

When do you know its time to cleanse clear your cards?

•    Your readings feel muddled or unclear.
•    The cards have been exposed to disruptive or negative energy (This can be your own energy or other peoples).
•    The deck has remained unused for quite some time, causing its energy to become stagnant.
•    You have acquired a new or used deck of cards.
•    You intuitively know it’s time to clear your cards.
•    You start to feel disconnected from your cards.
•    You wish to connect deeper with your cards.
•    Your cards have been handled less favorably, such as dropping them on the floor.
•    People other than you have handled your cards.
•    You have had an especially draining reading.
•    You have used your cards in an emotionally unstable time.
•    You have gone through a major life change.

Pre-cleanse preparations

Before you start a purification ritual for your cards, purify and cleanse yourself first. Secondly, make sure the energy where the ritual takes place is also pure and clean. A clean mind and a clean space are important. Why? Well ask yourself this, will you be able to purify anything if you or the space around you is soaked in disruptive energy?

How to clear and cleanse your cards

The Tarot cards in the image above are: RWS centennial edition

Knocking three times on the deck

Knocking three times on the deck is popular quick cleanse technique. You simply knock on the deck firmly three times with a clear intention in your mind to clear away some negative energy. This is particularly useful if you are doing a lot of readings back to back.

Pendulum

This is another quick cleanse technique. Hold a pendulum above your deck, let it circle around your card. In doing so it should help your cards release some of the negative energy within them. When the pendulum stops the process is done.

Sound

Clear your cards using sound as a tool. Use a clean crisp sound that you feel resonates with you and your cards. Let the sound create a calm and serene atmosphere, visualize bad disruptive energy disappearing in rhythm with the sound.
Tibetan singing bowls, bells or tingshaws are tools that can come in handy when purifying through sound .

Energy and intention

Clear and purify your cards with your intention and energy. You can go through your cards one by one as a thorough cleanse or choose a quicker cleanse and pick up the entire deck in one go. A third option is doing a cleansing shuffle. This means you cleanse your cards with intention and energy as you shuffle them. Now when you hold cards visualize them clean, warm, bright, warm and filled with love.
Other ways of clearing through intention can also be done with meditation, chants, prayers, blessings or incarnations.
Note that energy and intentions are useful in all clearing rituals. You cannot expect your tools to do all the work, you need to participate in the process too!

Moonlight and Sunlight

Keep your cards in your windowsill to charge and cleanse them. Simply let the cards rest and let them be purified by light.
Bathing the deck in moonlight is believed to help recover a decks accuracy. And during a full moon is the ideal timing to do this. This can be done other nights, but it is believed that doing this during a full moon is best.
Bathing your deck in sunlight is believed to charge your deck with positive energy. This can be useful if your readings have been unusually negative lately.
Note: if you own animals, make sure your cards are safely out of their reach. If not, the cards are at risk of being scattered all over your floor.

Arranging the deck

Neutralize the energy in your deck by putting the deck back in order. Using tarot as an example, put the major arcana in numerological order, then repeat this with the minor arcana. Putting all the cards upright is also a way to release some negative energy. You can, of course, do both these things for optimal result. Whatever you choose, remember to let your cards rest for a little while afterward.
I strongly recommend using intention and energy when arranging your deck.

Sage or sacred herbs

Purifying my cards with sage is my personal favorite.  Note that I strongly recommend holding the sage underneath your cards. This way you won’t get any ash or ember on your cards. There are two ways I use when I sage my cards:
•    Bathe your entire deck in sage smoke.
•    Bate one and one card in sage smoke. Place the deck near your left hand, pick up a card, carry it through the smoke, place the card near your right hand. Rinse and repeat this process until all the cards are on the pile near your right hand.

Cleansing techniques that should be approached with caution (or avoided completely)

These are cleansing rituals I would avoid, or at the very least carefully prepare for, because they risk damaging your cards.

Salt burial

Salt is known for its purifying properties, or you could say it absorbs negative energy. But you should also note that salt absorbs moisture. So if you still wish to bury your cards in salt you should take some precautions. Specifically, your cards must be kept in an airtight container. The reason being that the salt can absorb moisture from the air and potentially injure your cards. After you’ve buried your cards in the salt, let them lie there for at least a day. During this process, the salt should absorb the negative energy and purify your cards. After the burial is completed the salt should be discarded.

Using sage or incense above your cards

Sage and incense are excellent ways to clear energy. Although there are ways of doing it that can harm your cards. If you hold the sage or incense above your cards embers or ash could fall on your cards. If you still wish to use sage above the cards use some precaution. You should have something in between the sage and the cards that can catch embers and ash (like an abalone shell). Secondly, you should consider using a feather to better spread the cleansing smoke around the cards. For a quick cleanse keep the deck together and surround it in sage smoke. For a more thorough cleanse,  either spread out the entire deck or spread it out in groups (such as first the major arcana, then the wands and so on). Make sure each card is surrounded by smoke. During the ritual make sure you keep your thoughts focused on what you are doing, your earnest wish to clear your card is an important part of the energy cleanse.

Outdoor purification

Leaving your cards in the light of the moon or sun can be a gratifying experience, although there is much to be aware of. There is something serene about letting light purify energy. It is a quiet process when all that is needed is time and some peace and quiet. Simply let your cards breathe for a while under the light of the sun or the moon. This seems simple enough, but keep in mind when you leave your cards out, your cards are truly exposed to the elements, and that is not purely a good thing. Example: Wind can blow your cards away, a bird might poop on the cards, the cards can suddenly get soaked in the rain or strong sun can discolor the cards.
So how do you keep your cards safe outdoors? There will always be a small risk of accidents happening if you bring your cards outdoors. You can, however, use pre-emptive means to reduce the risk.
•    Try to avoid leaving your cards unsupervised.
•    Do not leave your cards out if it looks like it might rain.
•    Cover your cards with a light fabric if the sun is strong.
•    Place something heavy on top of the cards (like a crystal) to stop the cards from blowing away in the wind.
•    Be very careful of leaving your cards outdoors at night or early morning, dew can ruin your cards.
•    Placing a glass bowl above your cards can help protect them from threats such as bird poop.

Passing the cards through a candle

I am fully aware that fire is known for its cleansing and protective properties. But this is a ritual I simply cannot recommend. If you pass your cards through a candle flame, or above it, you risk burning your cards, you might even start a fire. I’ll say it again: Do not pass cards through fire! It’s dangerous.
You can, however, use candles as a part of another cleansing ritual. You can light candles nearby your card (But not so close that you accidentally burn your cards). Let the candles act as a protective barrier that will hinder external corrupted energy to enter your cleansing ritual.

Liquid purification

Holy water or Florida water is commonly used in many rituals. Yet when it comes to cleansing cards, you should stop and consider what you are doing. Liquid and cards do not mix very well. Water in itself can leave ugly marks on the cards, adding oils or herbs in the water can additionally make your cards sticky. If you still wish to cleanse your cards with liquid follow these precautions. Do not let the liquid touch. Dowse a piece of fabric in sacred liquid, let the fabric dry then carefully wrap the fabric around the cards. Be careful that you use a liquid that does not make the fabric sticky(Sticky fabric = sticky cards.

It should note that the fabric technique works best as a means to protect the cards from bad energy. So if you wish to protect recently cleansed cards for a longer period of time, this is a good way to do it. And that brings us to the next week’s topic: How to keep your cards energy clear after a purification ritual.

 

Sincerely Hermit of the North